Beverage dispensing assembly



March 14, 1939. F. c HAMILTON 2,150,439

BEVERAGE DISPENSING ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 10, 1958 FIG.2.

FIG. 7.

INVENTOR FRANCIS C. HAMILTON ATTORNEY v Patented Mar. 14, 1939 BEVERAGEDISPENSING ASSEMBLY Francis C. Hamilton, Evanston, Ill., assignor oione-half to L. Ray Schuessler, St. Louis, Mo.

Application January 10, 1938, Serial No. 184,303

3 Claims.

This invention relates generally to beverage dispensing assemblies andmore specifically to a beverage dispensing assembly which comprises areceptacle for beverage, a closure element for 5 said receptacle, and asipper which is sealed within the receptacle by the closure elementthereof when beverage is contained therein, the pre dominant object ofthe invention being to provide an improved beverage dispenser whichbecause a sipper is included as a sealed-in part thereof eliminates theunsanitary conditions attached .to the use of sippers as heretoforeemployed and renders much more convenient the sale and use of beveragesintended to be consumed from the receptacles.

As is quite well known it has come to be a rather general practice inrecent years for retail dealers to sell beverages for consumptiondirectly from the bottles or other receptacles in which the beveragesare distributed by the bottlers thereof. Also in order to renderdrinking of the beverages directly from the receptacles as convenient aspossible it has been the practice of the detail dealers to provide theircustomers with sippers,

or straws as they are generally called. The use of the straws mentionedis highly objectionable due to the unsanitary fashion in which suchstraws are ofiered to purchasers of beverages. Ordinarily th'e strawsare displayed on counters and tables in open containers where they aresubject to contamination by dust and germ-laden air and where they arehandled by numerous persons in the course of a day. It is true that oflate years the practice has grown up of enclosing the straws in thinpaper wrappers but at best such wrappers gave little protection againstcontamination of the straws because of the excessive and rough handlingto which the straws are subjected.

Briefly stated the main purpose of this invention is to provide abeverage dispensing assembly which includes a bottle or other suitablereceptacle in which beverage is contained, which receptacle is providedwith a'suitable closure element, a crown cap, for instance. A sipper ofslightly less length than the inner longitudinal dimension of thereceptacle is disposed within the receptacle with its lower end locatedin close proximity with respect to the upper face of the bottom wall ofthe receptacle and with its upper end contacting with the closureelement of the receptacle. The greater portion of the length of thesipper is submerged in the beverage and for this reason the sippernecessarily must be made-from liquidproof material, or in other words,material which is not affected by long submersion in liquid.

There are several known materials on the market at the present timewhich might be employed in producing sippers intended for use as partsof the present invention inasmuch as saidmaterials are unafl'ected bylong submersion in liquids. 5

The sippers of the present invention are arranged in the receptacleseither before or after the beverage is introduced into the receptacles,and when the closure elements are applied to the receptacles saidclosure elements engage the upper 10 ends of the sippers so that saidsippers are seale within the receptacles. 7

. The predominant feature of the present invention is that the sipper ofthe beverage dispensing assembly disclosed herein is sealed at its,upper15 end when it is placed in the receptacle. The, result of thisarrangement is that a column of air is trapped in the sipper when it issealed in a receptacle containing liquid, and this trapped air tends tomove the sipper upwardly withinthe re- 20 ceptacle. However, thetendency of the sipper to move upwardly within the receptacle. isresisted by the closure element of the receptacle with which the upperend of the sipper contacts when the sipper is sealed within thereceptacle. With 25 this condition existing when the closure element ofthe receptacle is removed, the trapped air Within the sipper causes saidsipper to bounce upwardly within the receptacle until a considerableportion of the sipperis exposed above the mouth 30 of the receptacle.The upper end of the sipper is closed or sealed in a manner to behereinafter set forth and the person to whom the beverage ,is servedmerely pinches the closed end of the sipper slightly so as to cause saidclosed end of the 35 sipper to pop open whereupon said sipper may beused in the usual manner to'withdraw liquid from the receptacle.

Thusa sipper forming a part of the improved beverage dispensing assemblydisclosed herein is 40 sealed in an air-tight receptacle until it is tobe employed by a purchaser of beverage dispensed with the aid of theimproved dispensing assembly, and if the bottling of the beverage wasperformed in a sanitary manner (which ordinarily is 45 the case) thepurchaser may feel reasonably sure that the sipper he uses is free fromcontamination.

Another important feature of the invention is that aside from the matterof sanitation the use 50 of the improved dispensing assembly disclosedherein renders very convenient the task of serving bottled beverages.This results from the fact that as soon as the closure element isdetached from the receptacle a sipper bounces into the 55 properextended position for use, thus eliminating additional action on thepart of the person serving the beverage in reaching for a sipper andintroducing it in the beverage receptacle.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved dispensing assembly. I

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the closed end portion ofthe sipper.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the closed end portion of thesipper.

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the closed end of the sipper.

Fig. 7 illustrates one manner in which the sippers are provided withclosed ends.

Fig. 8 illustrates another manner in which the sippers may be providedwith closed ends.

In the drawing, wherein is shown for the purpose of illustration,merely, one embodiment of the invention I designates a receptacle in theform of a bottle. The bottle I is provided with the usual bead 2 at themouth thereof which is shaped and proportioned to be frictionallyengaged in the well known manner by a crown cap 3. Arranged within thebottle I is a body of beverage B and disposed within the bottle so thatthe greater partof its length is submerged in the beverage B is a sipper4. The sipper l is in the form of a tube of small diameter and saidsipper ismade of a material which is not affected by long submersion inliquid. The botom end of the sipper is located in close proximity to thebottom wall In. of the bottle I and the top end of the sipper contactswith the lower face of the closure element 3 of the bottle I as shown inFig. 2.

, The sipper I is preferably formed from a thermo-plastic materialresembling Celluloid which material is reduced to tissue thinness. Onecharacteristic of such material is that it is so completely fluid-proofthat it may be submerged in liquid for an indefinite period of time.Also because of its thermo-plastic nature it lends itself admirably tothe expedient of closing an end of each sipper due to the fact that byapplication of heat to an end of a sipper the opposed portions of thewall of the sipper may be caused to adhere to each other so as to sealthe end of the sipper as shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. Also it has beenfound that when it is desired to open the sealed end of a sipper formedfrom a thermoplastic material and which has been sealed by applicationof heat thereto, it is necessary, merely, to pinch the sealed end of thesipper between the thumb and forefinger so that slight pressure isapplied longitudinally of the sealing seam S shown in Fig. 6. Thiscauses the seam to pop open and renders the sipper ready for use.

One simple and convenient way of making the sippers so that each thereofis provided with a closed or sealed end is illustrated in Fig. 7. Inaccordance with this method the sippers 4a. are made in double lengthsand each double length sipper is cut in half with the aid of a knife 5which is maintained in a heated condition by suitable means (not shown).As the heated knife 5 passes through the sipper being cut the heat ofthe knife fuses the material of the sipper at the cut and the pressureof the knife against the sipper forces the opposed wall portions of thesipper together so that said portions will adhere to each other andthereby produce the sealing seam 8.

When in the use of the improved beverage dispensing assembly the closureelement 3 is removed in the usual manner, the restraint imposed on thesipper by said closure element is removed and the column of trapped airwithin the sipper causes said sipper to bounce upwardly until aconsiderable portion thereof is exposed above the open mouth of thebottle I. The person served then pinches the sealed end of the sipper toopen same as has been described and the sipper is ready for use.

If desired the sipper may be distinctively colored to give an unusualand pleasing appearance to the bottled beverage.

As an additional method of sealing the upper end of the sipper of theimproved dispensing assembly the upper end portion of said sipper may befolded over as shown at Sa in Fig. 8. To retain the upper portion of thesipper in its folded over condition it may be touched by a suitableheated tool which will cause a slight fusing of the folded over portionsof the sipper and the fold may be released when the sipper is to be usedby applying slight pressure thereto with. the fingers.

I claim:-

1. A sipper adapted to be sealed within a receptacle in which liquid iscontained comprising an elongated element having a passageway formedtherethrough through which liquid may be drawn by suction; saidpassageway being closed at a point thereof so as to restrict passagethrough said passageway of liquid or air, and said closed portion of thepassageway being releasable to a maintained open condition to permitpassage of liquid and air through said passageway.

2. A sipper adapted to be sealed within a receptacle in which liquid iscontained comprising an elongated element having a passageway formedtherethrough through which liquid may be drawn by suction, saidpassageway being closed by adhesion at an end thereof so as to restrictpassage through the closed end of said passageway of liquid or air, andsaid closed end of said passageway being releasable to a maintained opencondition to permit passage of liquid and air through the previouslyclosed end of said passageway.

3. A sipper adapted to be sealed within a receptacle in which liquid iscontained comprising an elongated element having a passageway formedtherethrough through which liquid may be drawn by suction, saidpassageway being closed at a point thereof by deforming said elongatedelement so as to restrict passage through the closed portion of thepassageway of liquid or air, said closed portion of said passagewaybeing releasable to a maintained open condition to permit passage ofliquid and air through the passageway by restoring the elongated elementto substantially its original formation.

FRANCIS C. HAMILTON.

